On social issues like abortion the U.S. Senate is more liberal than the U.S. House, probably due to the greater influence of the media on the statewide Senate elections. Most votes on controversial issues are along party lines, although a few senators from both parties may cross lines against what their leadership endorses. Due to the clubby nature of the Senate, many bills have bipartisan support among both Republicans and Democrats.

Unless rules specify otherwise, the Senate may agree to any question by a majority of Senators voting, if a quorum is present. The Chair puts each question by voice vote unless the "yeas and nays" are requested, in which case a roll call vote occurs.[1]

The Senate is named for the Roman Senate, the governing council of ancient Rome. The Latin word means a council of elders, and derives from the same Latin root as senior.

Contents

Senators

Senators are elected by each of the fifty states. They serve for six-year terms, without term limits. Approximately one-third of the Senate comes up for re-election every two years. Although originally elected by the state legislatures, the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913 gave that power to the citizens. If a Senator resigns or dies in office, that state's Governor appoints a temporary Senator to maintain that state's representation.

Powers of Senate

In addition to passing legislation, the Senate also has a number of unique and special powers.

The Senate has the power to try cases of impeachment of federal officials, should such officials be impeached by the House of Representatives. When the President in on trial, such proceedings are overseen by the Chief Justice of the United States. Two notable instances of this were the impeachment proceedings of Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Neither were removed from office.

The Senate ratifies all treaties between the United States and foreign powers.

If there no majority in the Electoral College, the Senate selects the Vice President while the House selects the President. The Senate has only used this power once: in 1837, when it elected Richard Mentor Johnson Vice President after Virginia's delegates to the Electoral College voted for Martin Van Buren but refused to vote for him, giving him one vote shy of a majority. Under the Twelfth Amendment, the Senate elected Johnson 36 to 16 with three abstentions along sharp party lines.

A notable difference between the Senate and the House of Representatives is the ability for the minority to filibuster; in other words, 60 votes are required to force legislation to continue onto a voting period. The filibuster is important to prevent a majority of even 51 to 49 from forcing legislation through. This was crucial during the 110th congress from 2007-2009, where the Democratic party had a majority of merely 51-49, and if not for the filibuster could have forced potentially harmful legislation through.

Current Composition

Republican Party (Majority): 54

Democratic Party (Minority): 45

Independent Democrats : 1

Ann Coulter complained that "Republicans lost their majorities in the House and the Senate in 2006, thanks to George W. Bush's highly effective "Keep the Base at Home on Election Day" campaign, which consisted of pushing amnesty for illegal aliens."[3]

In fiction

The Senate has figured very prominently in American literature and especially cinema. Arguably the two most famous motion pictures in which the Senate and/or certain fictitious members of it figure prominently are:

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, in which an ingenuous interim Senator comes to the Senate and rebels against the graft and chicanery that he discovers there. So accurate were the replicas of the Senate chambers, galleries, and cloakroom that Columbia Pictures Corporation built for the film that visitors to the Senate galleries have often remarked that their visit was like appearing in the movie.

Scholarly studies

Baker, Richard A. The Senate of the United States: A Bicentennial History (1988).

Baker, Richard A., ed., First Among Equals: Outstanding Senate Leaders of the Twentieth Century Congressional Quarterly, 1991. biographies of famous Senators

Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, The Almanac of American Politics 1976: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (1975); new edition every 2 years; latest issue August 2009.

David W. Brady and Mathew D. McCubbins. Party, Process, and Political Change in Congress: New Perspectives on the History of Congress (2002)

Caro, Robert A. The Years of Lyndon Johnson. Vol. 3: Master of the Senate. Knopf, 2002.

Congressional Quarterly Congress and the Nation: 2001–2004: A Review of Government and Politics: 107th and 108th Congresses (2005); massive, highly detailed summary of Congressional activity, as well as major executive and judicial decisions; based on Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report and the annual CQ almanac; (CQ is a private company; it is nonpartisan and relied upon by all Senate watchers)

Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1997–2001 (2002)

Congressional Quarterly. Congress and the Nation: 1993–1996 (1998)

Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1989–1992 (1993)

Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1985–1988 (1989)

Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1981–1984 (1985)

Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1977–1980 (1981)

Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1973–1976 (1977)

Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1969–1972 (1973)

Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1965–1968 (1969)

Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1945–1964 (1965), the first of the series

Cooper, John Milton, Jr. Breaking the Heart of the World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations. (2001).